Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant Page A

memory and what she could find about the bank and its senior staff on the Internet.
    Someone far up on the ladder would’ve handled this differently. That sort of person wouldn’t even know her name. This had to be someone only a rung or two above Lou. Probably someone he’d reported to, or had been involved with on a project.
    Maggie got home and called Aunt Clara’s name. The reporters were gone from the front stairs. Her aunt was gone too. Maybe she was still looking up pie recipes at the library.
    Exhausted from her lack of sleep the night before but determined to begin the quest to clear her name, Maggie got out her laptop. She was still working on it when she heard her aunt come home. Maggie didn’t look up as she continued looking through the bank information on her flash drive.
    Aunt Clara watched her for a few minutes, standingclose beside her. She sighed heavily several times to get her attention.
    Maggie looked up from the bank files after saving a few likely suspects in a list she could give to the police. She wasn’t sure if the Durham police could check these out. They might have to give the names to the police in New York.
    Aunt Clara sighed heavily again.
    “Find any good recipes at the library?” she finally asked her aunt.
    “Yes. And I also saw that obnoxious Lenora Rhyne. She was there with her daughter. It seems they’re going into business together, opening one of those consignment places. She likes to rub it in that I don’t have a daughter. It’s annoying.”
    “I’m sure it is,” Maggie said absently, her mind still on her suspect list.
    “There was also a very nice man there who was interested in pies.”
    “Mmm-hmm.”
    “Now that we’re going to run the pie shop together, it changes everything. I’d like to make you half owner of Pie in the Sky.”
    That got Maggie’s full attention. She closed her laptop. “Why? It’s okay the way it is, isn’t it?”
    Her aunt sat on one of the damask occasional chairs. “I’d feel better about it. That way, you get half of the profits and make half of the decisions. It would be nice to know someone else is helping shoulder that burden. Like it was when your uncle was alive.”
    Maggie took her aunt’s cool, soft hand in hers. “You don’t have to do that to have me work with you, Aunt Clara. I don’t think I deserve a partnership yet.”
    “Well, I agree, at least not until I show you the piecrust recipe. But that won’t take long. I’ve already contacted my lawyer. He’ll have the papers drawn up right away.” Aunt Clara smiled and hugged her. “I have a very good feeling about this.”
    Maggie wished she could say the same. She hated to think that her aunt felt like she had to resort to this to make her more responsible. “All right. If it makes you feel better, that’s fine. Maybe we could meet Lenora Rhyne and her daughter for lunch one day and you could rub our partnership in her face.”
    Aunt Clara giggled. “Not a bad idea. What do you say to lunch and some piecrust making?”
    Maggie groaned slightly. She knew she had to do this. It was a small thing, but it was important to her aunt. Surely she could figure it out. She’d watched Aunt Clara make pie hundreds of times. Her aunt always paid more attention to their conversations than to her crust making, her fingers knowing exactly what to do.
    Maybe she wasn’t the world’s greatest cook, Maggie thought, but she could learn this for Aunt Clara.
    They had a light lunch of salad and some chicken. After cleaning off the table, Aunt Clara got out all her crust-making utensils.
    “All of these things belonged to my mother,” she explained to Maggie. “Your mother and I learned to makepiecrust when we were children. I’m sorry I didn’t carry on that tradition. You should have known how to do this a long time ago.”
    “Maybe that would’ve helped.” Maggie picked up the brown ceramic bowl. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook. I hope you’re not too